


After All These Years

by xxDustNight88



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Male Slash, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxDustNight88/pseuds/xxDustNight88
Summary: When Tony decided to step back from a public life, going off the grid saved his sanity. How will three words change everything?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 84
Collections: Marvel Undercover 2020





	After All These Years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HogwartsToAlexandria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/gifts).



> Thank you to my alpha and beta for reading this over, and to the mods at MCU Undercover for running to event!
> 
> Disclaimer: All non-original characters, plot points, quotes, and information belongs to Marvel and Marvel Studios, and anyone else that may own any part of it. Additionally, anything resembling Adele's song "Hello" was inspired by the song and most definitely not mine. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this creation. 
> 
> Prompt: Prompt: "Hello, it's me  
> I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet  
> To go over everything  
> They say that time's supposed to heal ya, but I ain't done much healing  
> Hello, can you hear me?  
> I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be  
> When we were younger and free  
> I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet  
> There's such a difference between us  
> And a million miles"  
> "Hello", by Adele

It was raining, and Tony was more annoyed than he ought to be at the weather. After losing Peter and the others and returning to Earth, he'd broken things off with Pepper and moved out into the middle of nowhere. Pepper deserved more than he could give her, and she deserved to be safe. If he couldn't stop Thanos, then how was he supposed to keep her safe?

Lost and alone, Tony lived his days by reading by the lake, or building useless projects that would never amount to anything. He'd long since turned off his cellphone and lost touch with the outside world. He'd even gone so far as to go without wifi after Natasha had tracked him to his old house in Malibu.

Going off the grid was easy enough for Tony, even if it brought back bad memories. His cabin by the lake was enough, and if Thanos ever returned, he hoped that the rest of the world would leave him alone. Standing on his porch, he thought about Steve and the others, still out there somewhere, trying to make the world better even though it was half gone.

* * *

It was a Sunday when the old phone finally beeped, indicating there was a message. Tony lifted his head from the novel he was reading to stare at the kitchen drawer. He knew what the sound was, but what he did not understand was why it made the noise. Setting aside the book, Tony stood and wandered into the kitchen to stare at the closed drawer.

He made sure the burner phone was always charged and on, but he never thought in a million years someone would use it again. Opening and closing his hand a few times, Tony hesitated before opening the drawer. Sure enough, there lay the phone undisturbed, but clearly it indicated one new message. Part of him wanted to close the drawer and ignore it, but his curious nature won out as usual. Lifting it into his hand, he flipped open the phone and hit enter to read the message.

_Hello, it's me._

Tony frowned at that. He knew who 'me' was of course. _Steve…_ The name flitted through his head and caused a cacophony of emotions to erupt in his chest. Narrowing his eyes, he hesitated in responding, but he didn't have to make a decision just yet. Another message appeared, followed by a series of others.

_I was wondering if you would like to meet with me._

_To go over everything that happened between us._

_Are you there?_

Still staring at the tiny screen, Tony realized he'd stopped breathing. Taking a breath, he practically collapsed into the chair at the wooden table as he tried to decide whether or not to respond. Deciding there would be no harm, Tony typed out a quick reply and hit send. He would either come to regret this or find the solace he so desperately sought. There was no in-between.

_Meet me at my place in Malibu._

* * *

California hadn't changed much in the past five years, but there was a newfound sadness about the place. Thanos ruined many lives, and destroyed much more than that. Tony waited impatiently for Steve's arrival. Meeting here was so that his cabin remained a secret that only he knew about in case he had to retreat there once more.

Lost in thought as he sipped some scotch, Tony was jolted when a knock sounded at the front door. FRIDAY wasn't active here, so Tony set aside his glass and went to open the door. He saw Steve through the glass opening and inhaled deeply. He was clean-shaven and looked the same as he did the first time he met him all those years ago.

Opening the door, he swallowed, not sure what to say in greeting. Thankfully, Steve smiled and extended a hand. Tentatively, he slapped his palm against it, and they briefly shook hands before it grew awkward.

"Tony," Steve said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "May I come inside?"

Stepping back and opening the door wide, Tony gestured for Steve to enter. "Sure," he said, knowing he was being cold. He had good reason, their parting at the Avengers facility was far from graceful. "Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm good, thanks," Steve responded as they walked into the living area.

"Do you mind if I drink?" Tony asked, picking up his glass from earlier and draining it in one gulp. He turned to the bar and refilled it, giving Steve a grin.

Chuckling, Steve shuffled his feet a bit. "This is awkward. Isn't it?"

"Did you expect it to go any other way?" Tony retorted, raising his eyebrows at the man.

"No," Steve said, grinning despite himself. "I expected a fight, if I'm honest."

"We'll get there, I'm sure," Tony said and then drained his glass again. This time he didn't refill it and set it on the bar before moving toward Steve.

Sighing, Steve ran a hand over his face. "It's been a long time, Tony. How are you doing? You look better than you did the last time we were together."

"Hah," Tony laughed, throwing his head back for a second. "Are we really exchanging pleasantries right now?"

Steve exhaled in a rush, turning around in place as if he was going to storm out of the room, but something held him back. Gathering himself, he slowly turned back around and gave Tony a sad smile. In the end, he decided to go a different route to get Tony talking.

"I wanted to call you a thousand times, Tony, but I wasn't sure you would want to talk.'' His voice was gentle, but firm as he made eye contact with his old friend. "Nat told me you threatened her if she tried to find you again."

Smirking, Tony said, "I wanted to be left alone. It worked."

"We've all been suffering from the losses, Tony," Steve said softly, wanting him to know how much pain he still was in from the devastation Thanos wrought. "I lost people too."

"The kid…" Tony trailed off, unable still to talk about Peter. He knew that he royally fucked up with that one, but there wasn't anything to do about it right now. No, now he had to focus on Steve. Coughing, he cleared his throat and asked, "Are you here to remind me of my mistakes, or did you come for a real reason?"

"There you go again," Steve scoffed. "Always trying to diffuse the conversation and avoid talking about the elephant in the room."

"Sorry," Tony said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yes, there I go yammering on about myself again. My bad." Tension was quickly building between the two men, but he had no idea exactly where it was going to lead.

"We're running out of time to make this right between us," Steve said, pushing the matter. Tony's lack of emotion was starting to grate on his nerves. "The longer we put it off the further apart we grow."

"The further apart we grow?" Tony repeated as a question, and then started to laugh so hard he clutched at his side sarcastically. "We haven't been close in years, _Rogers_. You made sure of that before running off with Nat and the others. By the way, how is Bucky these days?"

"You know for a fact that Bucky disappeared with the rest of our friends. Clearly, you no longer care about our friendship or making things right!" Steve yelled at Tony, glaring like he could burn a hole in his head. He was starting to worry that Tony was lost to him after all. "I don't know why I even bothered reaching out to you. This was a waste of time."

"If I didn't care about us, I would have ignored your _fucking_ text messages!" Tony raged in return, throwing his hands in the air. "I would have ignored you like I ignored everyone else!"

Anger, hot and urgent, burned in both of their stomachs. Their eyes flashed as their staredown continued, both not wanting to be the first to break. Eventually, someone would have to break, but seconds slid into minutes, and then, finally, Steve couldn't hold back any longer. He closed the space between them and captured Tony's lips in a crushing kiss.

Tony's hands forced their way into Steve's hair as he opened himself to him. His tongue battled for dominance, but he eventually allowed Steve to win. Steve's hands were fumbling with his jeans, and suddenly he wished there was a way to just make their clothes disappear. Fingers ripped at buttons, and tore at loose seams. They were naked before they reached the bedroom, both aching in a way they'd never felt before.

Tumbling onto the bed, Steve hungrily kissed his way down Tony's now naked chest. He nipped and sucked on his skin, paying extra attention to his nipples. Underneath him, Tony fisted the sheets, his hips undulating of their own accord. Steve knew what he wanted, what he needed, and he was about to give him exactly that.

Without a second thought, Steve engulfed Tony's cock in his mouth. He held down the man's hips so he could be the one in control, knowing somehow that was what his lover needed. Slowly, he began to bob along the thick length, swirling his tongue around the tip each time. Peering up through hooded, lust-filled eyes, Steve watched as Tony panted and writhed.

"God- _Steve_ ," Tony moaned as his heels dug into the mattress. His mind was a whirlwind of irrational thoughts. Why hadn't they done this before? Why were they doing it now? But it didn't matter the when and the why. Tony knew this was how it was meant to be between the two of them.

When Steve sensed that Tony was about to come, he pulled back slowly and let his cock fall free from his mouth. He watched as it glistened, sticking straight up for him. Tony made a noise, a whimper of disappointment, but Steve needed more. He needed to be buried inside of Tony before he lost his mind. Maybe he had already lost his mind.

"Roll over," he ordered, his voice rough from having been down on Tony. Watching as Tony hurried to do as asked, Steve reached over and rifled through the drawer of the nightstand. Thankfully there was a bottle of lube for them to use.

Catching his breath somewhat, Tony could see that Steve's cock was aching for some attention of its own. "Hand that here," he said, gesturing to the bottle in Steve's hand. When it was passed to him, he uncapped it and squirted a generous amount into his palm.

Kneeling, Tony came face to face with that glorious cock. Oh how he wanted a taste, but right now there was an urgency between them. He wrapped his slick fingers around the length and began to slide his hand up and down. Steve's head fell forward onto his chest as a sigh turned into a moan. Smirking, Tony quickened his pace, and then switched hands.

Using his own fingers, he worked on opening himself up for Steve. His cock throbbed at the thought of being so completely filled by Steve. The thought was nearly enough to make him come on the spot, but somehow he refrained. He began to whimper as he added a second finger to his opening, and curled onto his side on the bed.

Steve's entire body was trembling as Tony's hand slid over his cock. Lifting his chin, he watched as Tony prepared himself, his slick fingers sliding in and out at a ridiculously slow pace. He knew it was rushing, but he couldn't wait any longer. Grabbing hold of Tony's hand, he forced him to stop his movement.

"I need to be inside of you," he groaned, his cock aching and his chest full of an emotion for Tony he was unaware of.

"Fuck me," Tony begged, rolling onto his stomach and sliding onto his hands and knees.

Steve positioned himself behind Tony and grabbed hold of his cock. Carefully, he pressed the head against Tony's opening and then pushed forward. Tony groaned, his head jutting backward, but he did not seem to be in pain. Knowing they both wanted this, Steve rocked his hips forward, fully sinking himself into Tony after pausing a few times.

"God yes," Tony grunted, pressing his ass backward as if that would make Steve go deeper still. Realizing that Steve was in some sort of shock, Tony wiggled his hips and then moved them back and forth, starting a slow rhythm he hoped Steve would catch up to.

Finally gathering himself, Steve grabbed hold of Tony's hips and took over controlling their coupling. He kept the same pace, but when Tony's frantic requests began begging for harder and faster, he was only too willing to do just that. He hurried their pace, giving Tony everything he had and more. The bed was shaking now, the headboard making a steady rhythm against the wall.

Behind him, Tony could hear Steve panting and grunting just as much as he was. In that moment everything between them was forgotten, and they were simply using one another as a means to get off. There would be time to talk more later, but Tony knew that they needed to get their feelings off their chest, and this was exactly how they were going to do that.

Steve continued to fuck Tony hard and fast, each thrust bringing the both of them closer to orgasm. When Steve reached underneath their sweat-slick bodies to wrap a hand around Tony's cock, the shorter man nearly came. He moaned as Steve began to pump him along to his thrusts, the hunger in his belly growing.

"I'm going to come," he told Steve, gasping as a particularly good thrust made him see stars.

Instead of replying, Steve doubled his efforts, his hips and hand never relenting. He pounded Tony into the bed, not caring that his grip on his hip was probably going to leave a bruise or that the wall might be dented from the headboard. He only had one thought in mind, and that was to make sure that Tony came before he did.

Steve rocked his hips, sliding his thumb over the tip of Tony's cock in time to the thrusts. The action seemed to work, a gasp of pleasure tumbled from Tony before sliding into a moan. Steve felt his cock pulsing as Tony emptied himself all over his hand and the bed below them. He slowed his hand to focus more on his own release now.

Nearly spent, Tony used his remaining energy to push back against Steve's thrusts. Within a second, Steve's fingers were digging hard into the soft flesh at his hips as he emptied himself into him entirely. The hot breath at Tony's neck tickled as it ghosted over his sweat-covered skin. He shivered as he felt each pulse of Steve's cock as it released his seed. He moaned, pressing his own face into the blanket, wishing that he could come again.

As their breathing returned to normal, and the room became silent, the pair disentangled. They fell onto the bed side by side, but Tony remained on his stomach. Steve appreciated the view, smoothing his hand over his lover's bottom. Tony turned his face to stare up at him, so he smiled.

"I wasn't expecting that," he told Tony, hoping that he didn't regret their actions.

"Surprisingly," Tony said, shrugging one shoulder, "neither did I."

"Where do we go from here?" Steve asked, nervousness blooming in his chest now that the arousal had faded.

"I forgot how it used to be between us," Tony said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Before we let weapons and politics get between us. We used to be friends." His statement didn't answer Steve's questions, but maybe it would garner some answers of his own.

"We were always more than friends. You meant everything to me, Tony," Steve admitted, casting his eyes aside to hide the sheen of tears. He hated to get emotional, but that's just how it always was with Tony. "We lost what we had."

"You didn't have to go against the Sokovia Accords," Tony said, his voice gruff with his own emotions. "You could have been by my side through it all. It would have been okay."

"I fight for freedom," Steve said, now looking Tony in the eyes. He shook his head and then sighed heavily. "The government would have locked Wanda away. Vision too. I couldn't risk them losing their freedom."

"You lost me in the process." Tony sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed. "We lost each other."

Steve remained where he was for a moment, analyzing what Tony had said. In the aftermath of their battle, they had lost one another. "It's true," he began, speaking softly and slowly as he tried to find the right words to say. "We did lose one another. We should have been together to battle Thanos."

"There's no point in rehashing the past now," Tony grumbled, moving to stand. Before he could leave the mattress, Steve's hand shot out and grabbed hold of his. He stared down at Steve, willing him to say the right thing and stop him from storming out of the door.

"Tony," Steve said, gazing at their intertwined hands before staring back at the man he'd loved and lost. "I'm sorry. I was wrong, and I know there's nothing I can say to fix this mess we've made, but I am here now."

Sighing heavily and raking a hand through his damp hair, Tony stared down at Steve and realized there was no use arguing any longer. He was right; he was here now, and they could move forward rather than backward or further apart. Swallowing, he said the only thing he could think of in the moment.

"I love you."

Steve smiled, moving to stand from the bed, but never letting go of Tony's hand. Naked, he stared down into Tony's brown eyes. "I love you too, Tony."

They kissed then, far more tender than earlier. Their bout of passion had melted away all the anger their past and words had caused, leaving nothing but warmth and love in its place. They both knew that fully reconnecting would take time and effort on both their parts, but it was something they were willing to do.

After all these years, they were finally able to put aside their differences and find what truly mattered… Their love for one another. Whatever happened next, they would take it on together.


End file.
